The studio is also pushing its Jungle Book: Origins film — not to be confused with the Jon Favrau-directed retelling hitting theaters next weekend — from Oct. 6, 2017 to Oct. 19, 2018. Warner Bros. incarnation of the Rudyard Kipling tale, directed by Andy Serkis, is to star Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, and Benedict Cumberbatch.

Serkis said Wednesday that he’s “absolutely thrilled” by the release date change for Jungle Book.

“The ambition for this project is huge. What we are attempting is an unprecedented level of psychological and emotional nuance in morphing the phenomenal performances of our cast into the facial expressions of our animals,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “We are breaking new ground with realistic non-humanoid animal faces, such as a panther or wolf, ensuring that they convincingly communicate with human language and emotion via performance capture, and are able to stand up to real scrutiny in richly complex dramatic scenes.”

“So, every minute more that we have to evolve the technological pipeline will make all the difference,” he added. “The evidence is there already and it’s off the chain exciting, so hang on in there…This is truly next generation storytelling, and it will be the real deal!”